Released in Afghanistan and its neighboring countries in 2001, after the fall of the Taliban and due to the high illiteracy rate and re-construction of ruined schools.
The show is the Arabic version of "Sesame street". Its title means "Open sesame".
Iftah Ya Simsim (Open Sesame) is the first international co-production of the American children's television series Sesame Street created in the Arabian world. It premiered in Kuwait on September 14, 1979, and was broadcast in 22 Arabic-speaking countries, running until June 23, 1989. The program continued to be well-known decades after it went off the air.
A few months after its premiere, Iftah Ya Simsim became one of the most popular and successful programs for children in many Arab states. Critics called it "one of the most successful pan-Arab collaborations of educators, creators, writers and artists from the Middle East". The show inspired many studies, which demonstrated that children benefited from watching it. In 2010, efforts began to revive the show for a new generation of young viewers in the Arab world. In late 2013, fifteen writers and producers from Bidaya Media attended training about its educational methodology and production techniques from the staff of the American show in New York. Iftah Ya Simsim was in pre-production in March 2014, and the first phase of auditions took place in April 2014. The new series debuted on September 1, 2015.